Plant growing means presently used do not allow close regulation of the fertilizer and pH content of the media. This invention because of the materials used and because of the simplicity with which they are used permits the average housewife or other person usually inexperienced in plant growing to succeed.
Because the media presently used do not drain sufficiently to allow enough air to enter, or do not permit an effluent to remove excess fertilizer and other soil salts; and because these media decompose to produce ammonia and nitrites which are poisonous to plants in other than very small amounts; and because these products of decomposition may be converted to a nitrate at a time when additional nitrates are not desired, they are poorly suited for growing plants, especially when using the testing system of this invention, in comparison to the media of the present invention which is designed to avoid all of these faults. Other materials such as perlite and redwood sawdust could be substituted. However, manure, peanut hulls, corncobs, etc., could not be substituted because they rot too quickly.
The fertilizers presently supplied do not contain all of the elements plants are known to require. Formerly this did not often prove detrimental as the growing media used in containers were basically better supplied with minor elements than the present soil mixes which are composed primarily of peat, vermiculite, sponge rock, bark, and other wood products. The fertilizers formerly supplied had many minor elements in the form of impurities and their importance was not fully realized until high analysis fertilizers with few impurities were placed on the market. Most of these high analysis fertilizers presently supplied contain urea and ammonia salts as their source of nitrogen. These must be converted to nitrate nitrogen before they are available for use by plants. Often because of the lack of sufficient air, excess moisture, lack of bacteria to convert the urea to ammonia, to nitrite, to nitrate; or the ammonia, to nitrite, to nitrate, the ammonia and nitrite accummulate to damaging amounts; and, also because the urea and ammonia do not become nitrate under these conditions, the plant is starved for the lack of it. The fertilizer of the present invention avoids this conversion problem by supplying nitrogen in the nitrate form only. Also, the fertilizer of the present invention supplies the sixteen or so elements thought to be essential for plant growth and in the ratio to nitrogen which they are thought to be necessary. Because in the present invention fertilizer is supplied in all water used on the basis of the nitrate test of the effluent which is the same as in the soil solution, all elements remain available to the plant in the original correct ratios.
The fertilizers presently supplied neither contain sufficient surfactant to wet the media nor sufficient sequestrening or chelating agents to dissolve the precipitated salts left in the media by previous fertilizing, by the water used, or by media decomposition. By supplying surfactants, sequestering and chelating agents in large quantities and in sufficient water at each and every watering to produce an effluent equal to one-half of the water applied, these waste products do not accummulate.
When using the present fertilizers the phosphates as well as iron and other metals are especially vunerable to precipitation when they enter the growing media. For this reason in this invention, in addition to using sequestering and chelating agents, we use those compounds of these elements which are not easily precipitated. For example: glycerophosphate and a small amount of technical sodium ferric diethyl-enetri-amine pentaacetate.
Soil testing kits as presently offered for home use are outgrowths of those kits originally offerred to and used by nursery and greenhouse operators. These kits are considered by most home owners to be too difficult to use. They involve using a solution to wet the soil which will extract the elements being tested for, a filter paper to remove sediment, another solution to add to the filtrate and a color chart to compare with the resulting color of the filtrate to indicate the amount of the element present. Even for those homeowners who can get this far, the final decision of how much fertilizer, of what composition, to add to the size of the area involved was usually impossible for them to calculate. As the simplest test kits required testing for four things -- pH, Nitrate, Phosphate and Potash, four quantity calcultations were required and this did not correct for the other 13 elements needed by plants. The nitrate test used does not indicate ammonia or urea which are almost always present because they are usually in the fertilizers being used and so this test gave no true indication of the actual nitrogen bearing materials present -- although not at that moment available to the plant.
In fact, because of the reaction between chemicals, addition of one element would change the availability of another. Also, the specific separate fertilizer elements needed are not generally available to the home owner and when available are usually not in the more desirable soluble forms.
The fertilizer and media of the present invention will prevent these interactions, and because all elements are supplied in the right ratio, and without urea and ammonia, only nitrate and pH need be tested for. Because the surfactant, chelating, sequestering and excess water over what is required to wet the media will remove any excess minerals from the media so they can be disposed of with the effluent there will be no build up of salts in the media. Periodic tests of the effluent for nitrate and pH by simply wetting the test strips with the effluent and with the regular addition of that number of fertilizer pills and pH pills indicated by the tests optimum conditions will be maintained in the media for plant growth. As the plant grows, days shorten, temperatures fall, and other environmental conditions take place varying amounts of fertilizers are consumed, and new tests will be required so that a new rate of using fertilizer pills and pH pills can be established. After a few tests at 1 month intervals, the homeowner should be able to determine if more or less frequent tests are required.
The insecticides on the market are mostly in spray or aerosal form and therefore do not obtain complete wetting of the plant and are dangerous to the applicator, if inhaled, or to the plant if the aerosal is held close enough to freeze it. Some are in granular form and therefore difficult to apply to container plants which often occupy the entire soil surface. By supplying a systemic insecticide in a soluble pill form for easy accurate measuring and using enough water to completely saturate the growing media the safety of the applier and better control of insects is assured. Several materials are planned in combination for a wide range of insect control. Aldicarb (Temik) against mites, and Acephate (Orthene), against aphids, etc., are contemplated combinations when label clearance for such use is obtained.
Fungicides are rarely used on plants in the home because fungus damage is not recognized, except for mildew. By supplying a pill which a mixture of three systemic fungicides one of which will control mildew, the novice will be able to grow most plants some of which were formerly considered too difficult. Meterials to be used are Trifluorine, for mildew, rust and leaf spots; Truban (Ethazol) for pithium and phytophthora; and Benomyl (Benlate) for rhizoctonia, fusarium, sclerotinia and botrytis.